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Dragon Ball Chapter 3&4 Review

Last time in Dragon Ball, Bulma and Goku met up by a freak accident and we were introduced to the reoccurring plot device in the franchise, the Dragon Balls. Also, we see Goku’s power and naivety as well showing that he can take down a large Dinosaur/Dragon but also not knowing modern things, but that is down to his nomad upbringings. So, let’s see what is install for the duo this time.

Our story follows up from the end of the last chapter with Bulma annoyed at Goku for waking them up early, so he decides to go outside and train for a bit lifting large boulders and crushing them. However, when he goes to lift one up it turns out that it is in fact a turtle and not a boulder. The both are shocked, especially Goku because he thought that she had turned into it because she was slow in taking her time. Bulma comes out of the house to see what the commotion is and discovers that Goku is conversing with a sea turtle.

The turtle asks them for a bucket of seawater to drink and then explains to them why they are here. He says that he went looking for mushrooms and has been lost in the woods for the past year, and Bulma gives him the bad news that being he is still travelling in the wrong direction and that he is 120 kilometers from the sea. Goku says that he will take him to the sea, but Bulma says that they only have 30 days left for their quest so he decides to take him on his own and leaves Bulma behind. Bulma then says that she doesn’t need Goku, but then she realises that she forgot to get Goku’s Dragon Ball from him, but notices something rather worse, a large Dinosaur walking around in the back ground, so she decides then to quickly pack up and join them.

On the way to the sea, a Tiger Bandit spots the trio heading straight towards them and he tries to take Turtle to eat. Bulma wants Goku to give him the Turtle, however he doesn’t and he keeps on taunting the Bandit so the Bandit decides to use force and take the Turtle from them both. He manages to dodge his attack and Bulma tells him to get on the bike, however Goku continues fighting managing to land on the tip of the Bandit’s sword and gives him the Rock, Scissors, Paper move and he manages to defeat the Bandit. Bulma then realises how strong he is and they continue their diversion to the sea, which then end up reaching.

Turtle is happy that he has arrived back at the sea and asks them to stay where they are so that he can go and get them a reward for their generosity. They wait for Turtle to return with their reward and Bulma notices something coming to them from the ocean and Goku says that its Turtle and that he can see somebody riding on him. As Turtle gets closer to them, they notice that it is an old man.

Chapter four opens with the Goku asking who the old man is and he introduces himself as Kame-Sen’nin- The Turtle Hermit (more commonly known as Master Roshi in the dub). He asks the Turtle if it was both that helped him, but he replies that it was just the boy, so Roshi (which I am call him for the rest of the reviews of this) is going to give him a gift. He calls for the Immortal Phoenix but it doesn’t show up and Turtle reminds him of a previous problem that occurred between the two of them and Roshi remembers the problem but he comes up with an even better gift and summons the Kinto’un (or the Flying Nimbus again called in the dub and what I will be calling it). The cloud appears and Goku asks how he can eat it and Roshi tells him that he doesn’t eat a magical cloud but rides it. Bulma seems rather perplexed by this wondering about Turtle Hermits and magical clouds and Roshi then tells him that only a person with a pure heart can fly on the Nimbus and when he tries to jump on the cloud he falls straight through it.

Goku jumps on the cloud and starts flying around the place all giddy and childlike when Bulma chimes in asking for a reward too but Turtle tells Roshi that it was Goku that helped him. But Bulma reminds him that she was the one that gave him seawater to drink. Roshi says that he only has one magic cloud but he asks to see something of hers in exchange and that being her panties. Turtle complains to Roshi about his perverted ways but Bulma agrees to show him her panties and we get a bigger surprise when we see Bulma pulling up her nightie to see that she isn’t wearing any panties and she has just flashed Roshi and Turtle without realising.

Bulma then asks Roshi for her favour and he starts to decide on what she may want to see, but what she does see is hanging from his neck, the three-star Dragon Ball, and Roshi says that he found this 100 years ago on the ocean floor. Roshi asks if the thing is valuable, but Bulma believes that they are getting the ball for free as her reward for flashing Roshi. But Roshi didn’t say that they could have it… until Bulma flashes him again where he gives them the Dragon Ball and they head back to the house. Bulma goes to put some clothes on and then she realises that her panties have been in the house the entire time and she then realises what she had done. Goku then chimes in saying that he was the one that took off her panties and she unleashes her rage on him and shoots him with a gun, which he manages to survive because Goku.

They pack up to continue the rest of the journey and Bulma says that if Goku pulls a stunt like that again, she will kill him and then brings up that they would be able to get around more faster with them being on the Flying Nimbus together. But when Bulma gets on the cloud the same that happened to Roshi happens to her as she falls through the cloud face first. She wonders why she can’t board it thinking that being too beautiful and thinks of it being a sin so she now must ride her bike instead of on the cloud. Maybe one day she will be able to ride the cloud in some way.

Overall, I think that this is a good bit of filler whilst still exploring the story. The introduction of Roshi was done well and we see the tropes that come from Japan representing older men as rather perverted towards younger women, but as his character has grown now in Super I’m glad that he is now behind this. And next year we will be carrying on with the adventures of Goku and Bulma to see where their adventures will take them next in their quest for the Dragon Balls.

One thought on “Dragon Ball Chapter 3&4 Review”

I’m honestly unsure if you should call this a review. The majority of the writing is a synopsis of the events contained in the chapters and only the final paragraph states an opinion. Even then, it really doesn’t say much aside from it’s good (no explanation of why) and that the introduction of Roshi is done well (again, no explanation of why you feel this way). I don’t get any sense of your personality from this writing and if this was a review of something current rather than a cultural phenomenon I don’t think I would find this helpful.

Why don’t we hear your thoughts on the interactions between the characters, or any commentary on how the fight scenes look next to modern works in the same genre, or even just an explanation of the feelings you had while reading the chapters as a whole? This review feels very much like what you called these chapter’s, filler. I don’t know if your other writings have more to offer than this article but if you want to capitalize on the extra eyes given from Linkara linking to your page, you need to step up and offer more.

I know this sounds harsh but it doesn’t come from a place of spite. Don’t waste this chance to show people who you are and take a slice of the internet’s eyes for yourself.